The US birth rate remains near record lows, with 3.6 million babies born in 2024 and a fertility rate of 54.6 births per 1,000 women. Despite a slight uptick, experts say it's not a long-term shift. Teen and early-20s births hit record lows, while births among women in their 30s rose. Increases were seen mostly among Asian and Hispanic women.
Changes in fertility rates from year to year are often gradual
Amid this fertility slump, Trump-era officials have pushed pronatalist rhetoric. Elon Musk called low birth rates a crisis, and VP JD Vance publicly advocated for more babies. Trump signed an order to expand IVF access, but federal reproductive health programs faced major budget cuts, including teams focused on contraception, abortion, and pregnancy risk.
